THE HAT, THAT NEVER EXISTED
Christoph Roßner
April 15 - May 14, 2011
Romer Young Gallery, in collaboration with Galerie Axel Obiger, Berlin, is pleased to present its first solo exhibition with German artist Christoph Roßner, the hat, that never existed. Roßner will exhibit a series of paintings and works on paper. There will be an opening reception for the artist on Friday April 15th, 6-9pm.
Roßner's paintings exist in a dreamlike state, somewhere between abstraction and representation. His images exist like the traces left behind, and offer slow, blurred glimpses into a personal mythology. Finding inspiration in his surrounding environment, Roßner's mysterious and melancholic imagery combines motifs that have emotionally touched the artist in some form or other. He reinterprets these as landscapes of the soul. Starting with a basic idea, Roßner repeatedly alters an image in a meticulous process of visual discovery, working until he considers it completely finished. Traces of the developmental process – such as overpainting, the insertion of drawings and the smearing of colors – remain deliberately conspicuous, conveying the production process to the viewer. These traces are essential to the work's impact. The process is slow and the paintings reveal their full effect when approached at the same speed, slowly.
CHRISTOPH ROßNER was born in Zwickau Germany and currently lives and works in Dresden. His work has been exhibited at Galerie Axel Obiger and Kunstraum Bethanien in Berlin, Germany; Galerie Zanderkasten and Galery Treibhaus in Dresden, Germany, and dst.galerie Munster, Germany. This will be the artist’s first exhibition in the United States.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Goethe Institut, San Francisco, and Southern Exposure's Alternative Exposure Grant Program.